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I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.
I had raised my cat from tiny kitten stage on a sailboat I formerly
lived on for approximately 10 years. She grew
up to be a fine mate/friend/etc through the years and is definitely
considered a family member. I've always
considered her to be well adjusted, happy and playful.

Here's the rub:
A couple years ago, after multiple carpal tunnel surgeries and three
successive serious hurricanes, health and
other issues forced us to abandon our original plans of cruising the
world and returning to a life firmly planted
on terra firma.
An old friend offered us (the cat and myself) a place to live and a
family to be a part of, a SERIOUSLY nice
(and much appreciated) gesture for sure and shortly thereafter, we
combined ranks (my friend and his siamese,
myself and my cat) to form the extended family we have now become.
It should be noted that, having been raised on a boat, my cat's
exposure to certain things was less than a
"normal" cat's would have been (little knowledge of things like cars,
trees, houses, etc), but she'd occasionally
been exposed to dogs, other people, etc and never seemed to have any
problems interacting with those
things.
As I said, my friend's cat is a female siamese, approximately 2 years
younger than mine, who'd been given to
him after being found abanded in a drainage ditch, by some friends.
IOW, the house was HER domaine
when my cat and I arrived here.
Some pertinent issues are that both cats are neutered females, with my
cat weighing in about half again larger
than his siamese and the biggest thing being that my cat had been de-
clawed while as kitten (I know, I know ..).
At the time of our arrival at my friend's house (approx two years
ago), there was never an issue of dominance
as to who's "territory" it was. For the most part, my cat's exposure
to having to fight (for anything) has been
limited, at best and the skirmishes began almost immediately with the
siamese always "corraling" my cat
back into "her" bedroom (out of the general living areas).
My cat spends the majority of her time in "our" bedroom, generally
lounging, chilling, doing the things cat do.
She occasionally slithers out into the main parts of the house doing
the "exploring, etc" things cats do with the
the outcomes of the forrays sometimes ending non-eventfully, sometimes
being "ambushed", with the outcome
usually ending back in "her room".

The question:
It's 2 years down the road and we were sure that by now the cats would
have "worked things out" and the two
would be playing together etc in mutual parts of the house and
generally co-existing (at least to the point that
the skirmishes would have been past them). Although the siamese is
barely half of my cat's size, it completely
intimidates my cat from being able to share the socializing stuff we
want them to be able to have.
Is there a shared "general consensus" technique we could use to
"force" (or at least speed up) the process of
the kitties accepting each other?

Any help (especially techniques which have proven successful in
similar situations) would be HUGELY
appreciated and help us create an environment which we've been trying
to provide for what's seemed like an
eternity now.

There's a reason why it didn't work. It sounds like you didn't introduce
them slowly in the beginning. Cats aren't dogs and the introduction must be
different. I think it is best to re-introduce them again slowly which means
seperating the cats.

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!www.panthertekit.com
"pirate" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.
I had raised my cat from tiny kitten stage on a sailboat I formerly
lived on for approximately 10 years. She grew
up to be a fine mate/friend/etc through the years and is definitely
considered a family member. I've always
considered her to be well adjusted, happy and playful.

Here's the rub:
A couple years ago, after multiple carpal tunnel surgeries and three
successive serious hurricanes, health and
other issues forced us to abandon our original plans of cruising the
world and returning to a life firmly planted
on terra firma.
An old friend offered us (the cat and myself) a place to live and a
family to be a part of, a SERIOUSLY nice
(and much appreciated) gesture for sure and shortly thereafter, we
combined ranks (my friend and his siamese,
myself and my cat) to form the extended family we have now become.
It should be noted that, having been raised on a boat, my cat's
exposure to certain things was less than a
"normal" cat's would have been (little knowledge of things like cars,
trees, houses, etc), but she'd occasionally
been exposed to dogs, other people, etc and never seemed to have any
problems interacting with those
things.
As I said, my friend's cat is a female siamese, approximately 2 years
younger than mine, who'd been given to
him after being found abanded in a drainage ditch, by some friends.
IOW, the house was HER domaine
when my cat and I arrived here.
Some pertinent issues are that both cats are neutered females, with my
cat weighing in about half again larger
than his siamese and the biggest thing being that my cat had been de-
clawed while as kitten (I know, I know ..).
At the time of our arrival at my friend's house (approx two years
ago), there was never an issue of dominance
as to who's "territory" it was. For the most part, my cat's exposure
to having to fight (for anything) has been
limited, at best and the skirmishes began almost immediately with the
siamese always "corraling" my cat
back into "her" bedroom (out of the general living areas).
My cat spends the majority of her time in "our" bedroom, generally
lounging, chilling, doing the things cat do.
She occasionally slithers out into the main parts of the house doing
the "exploring, etc" things cats do with the
the outcomes of the forrays sometimes ending non-eventfully, sometimes
being "ambushed", with the outcome
usually ending back in "her room".

The question:
It's 2 years down the road and we were sure that by now the cats would
have "worked things out" and the two
would be playing together etc in mutual parts of the house and
generally co-existing (at least to the point that
the skirmishes would have been past them). Although the siamese is
barely half of my cat's size, it completely
intimidates my cat from being able to share the socializing stuff we
want them to be able to have.
Is there a shared "general consensus" technique we could use to
"force" (or at least speed up) the process of
the kitties accepting each other?

Any help (especially techniques which have proven successful in
similar situations) would be HUGELY
appreciated and help us create an environment which we've been trying
to provide for what's seemed like an
eternity now.

On Aug 31, 10:31 am, pirate wrote:
I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.

snip

Wow, it's been several years since I have actively participated in
Usenet,
mainly for constant shortages of time. Of all the available collective
knowledge
on the internet. it was always my first choice for "quality"
information because
the newsgroups were made up of people informed on the particular topic
of the
group and their willingness to help those less knowledged in a
particular area.

I appreciate the two responses I received but thought somehow there
would
have been more folks who might have had a similar experience and
possibly
(hopefully) more alternative options.

"pirate" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Aug 31, 10:31 am, pirate wrote:
I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.

snip

Wow, it's been several years since I have actively participated in
Usenet,
mainly for constant shortages of time. Of all the available collective
knowledge
on the internet. it was always my first choice for "quality"
information because
the newsgroups were made up of people informed on the particular topic
of the
group and their willingness to help those less knowledged in a
particular area.

I appreciate the two responses I received but thought somehow there
would
have been more folks who might have had a similar experience and
possibly
(hopefully) more alternative options.

I have you killfiled, and there must be a reason for that. Let me guess:
you have a problem that a vet could solve, but you don't want to spend
the money so "my first choice for "quality" information? If I'm wrong,
I apologize in advance. It's just that this is the case with about every
third post. If I am right, take you cat(s) to the vet.

"pirate" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Aug 31, 10:31 am, pirate wrote:
I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.

As a matter of fact, I do NOT have you killfiled, I just can't see
your posts. I apologize. (Went to Google groups and read your
post.)

Two reasons you may not have gotten many responses:

1. Holiday weekend, people are out.
2. There is no way to "force" your cats to get along. It is
a long, slow process and much has been written about it
in this group--all there for you to learn from, in the archives.